Asthma Management: 5 Key Steps to Protect Your Health

Up to 10 percent of people with asthma may have severe, uncontrolled disease, according to a 2024 study. You don’t have to be one of them. With expert support and an effective treatment plan, you can regain control. Keep reading to learn about the essential steps in asthma management.

Your Asthma Management Best Moves

“Every patient’s asthma is different, but everyone has the same goals for treatment,” says Dr. Meredith Turetz, assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and assistant attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian. “They want to breathe better, have fewer symptoms and be able to do more of what they want.”

Here are five ways to help achieve those goals.

1. Take Your Medicines

Your doctor will likely prescribe two types of medicines to help you control asthma:

• Quick-relief (rescue) medicines, such as albuterol inhalers and oral corticosteroids, provide short-term relief from asthma symptoms, including wheezing and coughing. These medicines act fast to open your airways during an asthma attack (also known as a flare-up).
• Long-term (maintenance) medicines, such as inhaled corticosteroids, reduce airway inflammation over time to help prevent symptoms.

Some people with asthma can take a medicine that acts as both a quick-relief and long-term therapy. Your doctor can determine if a combination medicine would make sense for you.

2. Be Inhaler-Savvy

To get the most benefit from your inhaler, you need to know how to use it correctly.

“The vast majority of people who have asthma don’t use their inhalers effectively,” Dr. Turetz says. “It’s crucial to get step-by-step inhaler training from your provider.”

3. Follow Your Plan

You and your provider will create an asthma action plan to help you know what to do if your asthma worsens. The plan will detail what medicines to take and when, and when to call your provider or seek emergency care. Your plan will include three, color-coded zones:

• Green zone—no symptoms
• Yellow zone—mild symptoms
• Red zone—severe symptoms

4. Track Your Condition

Monitoring your asthma at home can help you and your provider understand how well treatment is working and whether any adjustments are needed.

“You can use a peak flow meter, a pocket-sized device that measures how much air you can breathe out of your lungs,” Dr. Turetz says. “We can track those measurements over time. You can also keep a log of your symptoms and how often you use your medicines.”

5. Avoid Your Asthma Triggers

Asthma triggers are substances, activities or conditions that prompt or worsen asthma symptoms. Many things can trigger asthma, including:

• Air pollution
• Cold air
• Indoor or outdoor allergens, such as dust mites, mold and pollen
• Physical activity (exercise is fine if your asthma is well-controlled)
• Respiratory infections, like the flu
• Secondhand smoke
• Stress

If you know your triggers, you can avoid or address them. For example, you could stay inside on high-pollen days, treat allergies with allergy shots, get the flu vaccine or avoid exercising outdoors during cold weather.

Key Takeaways

Asthma management is the key to living well with this disease. These are the smartest moves to make:

1. Take your medicines as prescribed to control asthma in the long term and relieve symptoms in the short term.
2. Learn how to use your inhaler properly.
3. Follow your asthma action plan.
4. Track your breathing ability, symptoms and medication use at home.
5. Avoid or treat your asthma triggers.

Ready to gain the upper hand on asthma? Find a doctor at Weill Cornell Medicine who can help you manage the condition well so you can achieve the quality of life you want.